The Chrysalids is set in the future after a devastating global nuclear war. David, the young hero of the novel, lives in a tight-knit commun...
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Oct 21, 2009
Shannon
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This has been on my shelf, unread, since uni, when I picked it up second-hand after reading and loving The Day of the Triffids, recommended to me by my mum. I can't believe I waited so long to read this amazing book, and if there is one book you should read in your life it is this one.
It has been a long time - how long no one can say, though surely centuries - since God sent the Tribulation to the Old People (us), near destroying everything we had built and learned. The Tribulation More...
It has been a long time - how long no one can say, though surely centuries - since God sent the Tribulation to the Old People (us), near destroying everything we had built and learned. The Tribulation More...
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Aug 23, 2011
Stephanie
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Dec 12, 2009
Dan
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The Chrysalids is my new favorite John Wyndham book. It's about conformity in a post-nuclear holocaust world. David and his friends live in an isolated community called Waknuk on the island of Labrador. After seeing one of his friends cast out into the Fringes for having a sixth toe, David begins mistrusting his upbringing. Once he discovers that he and a small group of his friends are telepathic, things only get worse.
Wyndham draws on the paranoia and distrust of the deviations More...
Wyndham draws on the paranoia and distrust of the deviations More...
7 comments
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(11 people liked it)
Feb 09, 2012
Helen
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This novel is set in a future time, following Tribulation, which we assume to be a nuclear war. The narrator David and his family (including his staunchly religious father) live in a non-industrialised agricultural community called Waknuk. Radiation still affects the people of Waknuk from time to time. Physical defects caused by radiation are known as deviations and are ruthlessly weeded out. People found to have deviations (such as Sophie, who has six toes on each foot) are sterilised and banis
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Feb 28, 2009
Chris
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At first it seems as if John Wyndham is making the point that those with physical deformities are humans just like everyone else, and should be treated as such. However if we divide this book into heroes and villains, and weigh up the pros and cons for each group we find that the “heroes” are the greater monsters. If the villains are defined by their intolerance of anyone or anything that deviates from the norm then our band of heroes, and their ultimate savior, are the worst offenders. I was le
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(4 people liked it)
Feb 03, 2009
Richard
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The Chrysalids is a great science fiction story that has a lot of relevence to our current society (as most good science fiction does) and also happens to be a bit of a page turner. Set in a post-apocalyptic future that is only just starting to recover from a bad case of global warming and nuclear fallout, the story concerns a boy growing up in a strict pre-industrial fundamentalist Christian society that's just barely keeping it together. The religion is based around two books - the bible, th
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Feb 11, 2012
Melanie
rated it:
SPOILER ALERT!!
I thought that this book was very creative, interesting, realistic, and, surprisingly, addressed some profound issues and events very likely to actually happen in the future, which is quite remarkable considering the fact that this book is quite old now.
It's not the best in terms of developed characters, but David is a strong enough protagonist, with a interesting, realistic narrative style, although some of the supporting characters fall rather flat. For example, Rosal More...
I thought that this book was very creative, interesting, realistic, and, surprisingly, addressed some profound issues and events very likely to actually happen in the future, which is quite remarkable considering the fact that this book is quite old now.
It's not the best in terms of developed characters, but David is a strong enough protagonist, with a interesting, realistic narrative style, although some of the supporting characters fall rather flat. For example, Rosal More...
Nov 09, 2011
Jam
rated it:
This is one of the best post-dystopic, science-fiction books I've ever read.
Written in 1955 by John Wyndham, the Chrysalids is set in a world where men have become heavily religious, focusing their religious paranoia on the idea of a "true shape", i.e. two hands, two feet, 5 fingers on each hand, 5 toes on each foot, etc, and where this religious paranoia makes them violent to anything outside it. This is a post-dystopic world where mutants abound, no doubt a result of some g More...
Written in 1955 by John Wyndham, the Chrysalids is set in a world where men have become heavily religious, focusing their religious paranoia on the idea of a "true shape", i.e. two hands, two feet, 5 fingers on each hand, 5 toes on each foot, etc, and where this religious paranoia makes them violent to anything outside it. This is a post-dystopic world where mutants abound, no doubt a result of some g More...
Sep 12, 2011
procrastin8or
rated it:
This is the least typical of Wyndham's novels in that it is set in the far future and not in middle England.
This is a tale of a small agricultural community on the island of Labrador in a far future post-apocalyptic world. Their historical documents refer to the people of old who were destroyed by "tribulation", punishment from God for their sins.
Based on small-town America of the old west and religious values that we might identify today as fundamentalist, these pe More...
This is a tale of a small agricultural community on the island of Labrador in a far future post-apocalyptic world. Their historical documents refer to the people of old who were destroyed by "tribulation", punishment from God for their sins.
Based on small-town America of the old west and religious values that we might identify today as fundamentalist, these pe More...
Jul 30, 2011
The novel imagines a society where living beings who do not confirm to a 'true image' of God are deemed mutants and deviants. First published in 1955, the plot is as progressive as any 21st century work.
David, a by-all-accounts 'normal' boy first encounters Sophie, whose parents had hidden her deformity of having six toes per foot from the Inspector and the government. He eventually learns firsthand the terrifying fate awaiting those who are found to be different and unapproved.
Sophie and her More...
David, a by-all-accounts 'normal' boy first encounters Sophie, whose parents had hidden her deformity of having six toes per foot from the Inspector and the government. He eventually learns firsthand the terrifying fate awaiting those who are found to be different and unapproved.
Sophie and her More...
Jul 22, 2011
David
rated it:
I remember when I bought this book somebody said to me that it was brilliant. Having now read it (and it only took me the first ten pages to realise it) I must wholeheartedly agree with him. This is indeed a brilliant book. As I read it, it reminded me a lot of 'The Day of the Triffids' and my hunch was correct that it indeed was written by the same author.
This book is set far into the future. The world has been destroyed by nuclear war (we assume, though it is never actually spelled out) More...
This book is set far into the future. The world has been destroyed by nuclear war (we assume, though it is never actually spelled out) More...
May 28, 2011
Sarah
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Read this in high school. Other than just being raised to accept people the way they are, I think this book is a large part of why I can't stand discrimination.
It's sort of like X-men...if you're a mutant you're different & people are scared of you. But the example I remember from the Chrysalids was having an extra toe. Yep. 6 toes on each foot. If you didn't fit the physical norm, the various authorities in this book were so terrified of another catastrophic event occurring that they woul More...
It's sort of like X-men...if you're a mutant you're different & people are scared of you. But the example I remember from the Chrysalids was having an extra toe. Yep. 6 toes on each foot. If you didn't fit the physical norm, the various authorities in this book were so terrified of another catastrophic event occurring that they woul More...
Apr 26, 2011
Ron
rated it:
Re-Birth is the title given to the American edition of John Wyndham's science fiction classic The Chrysalids. The story was a very enjoyable read. Simply put, it is set in a dystopian future several centuries after an atomic war has devastated the world. A small settlement on Labrador struggles to survive in the "true image' of man by ruthlessly weeding out mutations. Deviants as they are called are banished to the fringes where mutations run wild, if they aren't outright killed. Beyond the
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Feb 10, 2011
Margaret
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See also my blog[return][return]As this is science fiction and I d read The Kraken Wakes, about an alien invasion of Earth and I know that The Day of the Triffids (which I haven t read) is about grotesque animal eating plants, I was expecting The Chrysalids to be about monster insects hatching out of pupae. It isn t.[return][return]It s a post-apocalyptic novel set in an imaginary Labrador. The people have vague recollections of the Old People who lived before the Tribulation (maybe a n
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Jan 25, 2011
Josh
rated it:
The novel imagines a society where living beings who do not confirm to a 'true image' of God are deemed mutants and deviants. For a work first published in 1955, the plot is as progressive as any 21st century plot.
David, a by-all-accounts 'normal' boy first encounters Sophie, whose parents had hidden her deformity of having six toes per foot from the Inspector and the government. He eventually learns firsthand the terrifying fate awaiting those who are found to be different and unap More...
David, a by-all-accounts 'normal' boy first encounters Sophie, whose parents had hidden her deformity of having six toes per foot from the Inspector and the government. He eventually learns firsthand the terrifying fate awaiting those who are found to be different and unap More...
Dec 01, 2010
Wynnie
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Aug 17, 2010
Parksy
rated it:
CLASSIC! - read it again in November 2007 and couldn't put it down!
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It is some time hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of years after an atomic war shattered civilization and left large parts of the world uninhabitable. Among the rural people of what used to be Newfoundland, the danger of mutation has led to a strict and ruthless definition of what constitutes humanity. Any deviation from the norm is considered an abomination. If livestock, it is slaughtered. Humans are More...
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It is some time hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of years after an atomic war shattered civilization and left large parts of the world uninhabitable. Among the rural people of what used to be Newfoundland, the danger of mutation has led to a strict and ruthless definition of what constitutes humanity. Any deviation from the norm is considered an abomination. If livestock, it is slaughtered. Humans are More...
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Jul 24, 2010
Liv
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This was my first taste of old fashioned sci-fi/weirdy crack. A grad student at the WRS hooked me up with this book, shortly followed by a couple other Wyndhams. The tone that the little protagonist-narrator boy starts out using, his childish but astute understanding of the world threw me into adoration immediately. You kind-lil' kids, you silly sweethearts with stones in your shoes, embarrasment over a bloody nose, and fisticuff fits when your junior heart swells up with kinderling emotion, god
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Jul 08, 2010
Tony
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Wyndham, John. THE CHRYSALIDS. (1955). ****. Wyndham (1903-1969) started publishing his novels in 1951. His first novel was, “The Day of the Triffids,” which is also the only other book of his I’ve read. It was fabulously successful, not just in England, but around the world. He published six novels in total, including, “The Kraken Wakes,” and, “The Midwich Cuckoos.” His real name was John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris. In his early writing days when he was pumping out stories for
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Apr 17, 2010
I read this book in elementary school and it contained elements and imagery that has lasted with me through the years. It is a science fiction account of a community living in Newfoundland centuries after some sort of disaster (nuclear catastrophe in North America) left the continent blackened and glowing at night. Newfoundland is far enough away to have survived, though winds from the south cause mutations in people, crops and livestock and the community reacts by rejecting any change, on a rel
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Jul 08, 2009
Arrika
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Set in a post apocalyptic future, The Chrysalids tells the story of children growing up in a world where society punishes anyone and anything that show signs of abnormality.
When David befriends a girl with a slight abnormality, he begins to understand the nature of fear and oppression. Then, when he develops his own deviation, he must learn to conceal his secret.
I stole this book from my mother while she was completing Criminology classes back in 1985 or so, along with t More...
When David befriends a girl with a slight abnormality, he begins to understand the nature of fear and oppression. Then, when he develops his own deviation, he must learn to conceal his secret.
I stole this book from my mother while she was completing Criminology classes back in 1985 or so, along with t More...
May 24, 2009
Corinne
rated it:
The premise of this book is so promising: a great "Tribulation" has swept the earth and genetic mutations are rampant. Many small communities have vague legends of the "Old People" who once lived and their highly religious societies have defined a "human" in very specific terms. Five fingers. Five toes. Two eyes. And if a person deviates from this strict definition of a pure human, they are a menace to society and not tolerated.
Our main character, David, More...
Our main character, David, More...
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(1 person liked it)
Nov 19, 2008
Christine
rated it:
Who would ever have thunk it that I would read a science-fiction novel? Seriously. This genre is totally out of the ilks of books I read. In fact, I don't think I even know where the science fiction section is in Chapters. I cringed when I found out I had to read this book for my grade 9 English class because, although I had heard of it, I really stayed very far away from it on principle. And so ... colour me pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed the simple but alluring plot and the vario
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Nov 10, 2011
Lee
rated it:
Every time I pick up a John Wyndham novel I find myself expecting some good clean science fictiony fun, and then get surprised when the violence and the killing and base degradation start up. I'm not sure why — this is my fifth Wyndham book, I really should have learned by now. It's probably nothing more than the fact he's an Englishman called John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris writing in the 1950s, and surely someone in that place, at that time, with that name simply wouldn't write anyth
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Feb 13, 2010
Kirsty
rated it:
Wow. I breezed through this book. I just couldn't put it down!
The book takes place in a post-apocalyptic dystopia. Something, we don't know what, but it's referred to as the Tribulation, has obliterated the world as we know it. In its place is a world where everyone has to be perfect - the 'true form'. Any kind of move away from the norm - any kind of abnormality, is considered a deviation and that person is outlawed, banned forever to live in The Fringes, a place on the outskirts o More...
The book takes place in a post-apocalyptic dystopia. Something, we don't know what, but it's referred to as the Tribulation, has obliterated the world as we know it. In its place is a world where everyone has to be perfect - the 'true form'. Any kind of move away from the norm - any kind of abnormality, is considered a deviation and that person is outlawed, banned forever to live in The Fringes, a place on the outskirts o More...
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Aug 29, 2009
Nathan
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Sep 13, 2009
Keren
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jun 29, 2011
Cheryl
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This book was fantastic. Not quite as good as The Day of the Triffids, in my opinion, but still very disturbing and thought-provoking.
After a devastating nuclear holocaust, the post-apocalyptic world was filled with extreme fanatical zealots on one hand, religiously exterminating or banishing anything--animal, plant or human--with the slightest defect, and those humans who deviated from what those zealots considered the pure, perfect image that God intended; even if the defect was o More...
After a devastating nuclear holocaust, the post-apocalyptic world was filled with extreme fanatical zealots on one hand, religiously exterminating or banishing anything--animal, plant or human--with the slightest defect, and those humans who deviated from what those zealots considered the pure, perfect image that God intended; even if the defect was o More...
Jan 10, 2010
trishtrash
rated it:
A small group of children in a post-apocalyptic township find that they have a telepathic ability which, if discovered, would mean they would be considered mutant abominations by their pious community and families. Deviances are dealt with harshly on their farms – irregular crops burned, blasphemous animals killed at birth; shockingly, babies are left to die of exposure if they exhibit even tiny abnormalities; nor is this an uncommon event… an inspector is appointed to the area, and every birth
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